Thursday, July 21, 2011

Hubby-Eric and I have tight finances and a set limit for comic book orders, so we looked at the 52 titles and worked for a bit to get them down to the ones we really wanted. I'm going to give you the list, then give you our reasoning.

Ok, now our reasoning on what's on the list, and on some of the books that almost made it to the list.

First off, the obvious. I'm an Aquaman fan, and Eric's a Green Lantern fan. Between the two of us that meant that AQUAMAN, the three GREEN LANTERN books, and the main JUSTICE LEAGUE title were pretty much a given. I mean, seriously, you don't think I'm going to skip Aquaman, do you?

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL was a harder sell. The Guy Gardner angle certainly appealed to Eric a little. I've noticed Booster Gold's recent elevation in the DCU, and wondered if this might become a showcase for that side of him. Then we have August General in Iron, Fire, Ice, Vixen and Rocket Red, all of whom are cool characters. Indeed, the only real downside is Batman, and I can imagine him being pushed to the side. Add in Dan Jurgens writing and Aaron Lopresti's artwork, and the book just came over from the "maybe" to the "yes".

Hubby-Eric is a big Justice Society fan, and you'll note the absence of any JSA books on the 52 list. Except for MISTER TERRIFIC. Now, me, I have liked the new Mister Terrific since I first met him. So between the two of us, this one became a fairly solid "yes" early on in our decision making. I don't know enough about the creative team to guess what the book will be like, but I have high hopes.

Both of us remember RESURRECTION MAN, and mourned its demise. Both of us LOVED that book. When we saw it on the list, both of us were immediately saying, "OH YEAH!!" So that one was a no-brainer, especially with the original Resurrection Man writing team on the book.

The last book we decided to get was STORMWATCH. One of two books written by our friend Paul Cornell, it's the one that we are both the most interested in. Mainly because of Martian Manhunter. Partly because of the angle on the DCU this will offer that we won't get from other books.

Books that Almost Made It - kick 'em out, Aquaman!

We had to work to get the list down to 9 books, and while there are a few that we could still drop, we had a lot more when the list started. Here are some of the also rans.

The last book to be cut from our list was STATIC SHOCK. We both watched and loved the cartoon, but we haven't read much of him in the comics. It was something we both wanted to check out, but the money situation dictates the purchases, and something had to give.

The showcase book of DC UNIVERSE PRESENTS may actually make it onto our list eventually, but we didn't have enough interest in Deadman to pick up this storyarc. That's the weakness and strength of a showcase book. Let's see how long it lasts.

We almost got RED LANTERNS, very nearly. It was one of the last to be cut. But while we both are willing to read about Green Lanterns, the only two Red Lanterns I'm interested in are Mera and that wonderful cat. So... this one got cut.

The only reason at all we were interested in DEMON KNIGHTS was because Paul Cornell was writing it. And eventually that turned out to not be quite enough to keep it on the list. Though it was close.

Who the heck are the characters on the cover of TEEN TITANS? Certainly no one I recognize or am interested in. No Aqua-character? No buying.

THE FURY OF FIRESTORM was appealing not because of the character, but because it's written by Ethan Van Sciver and Gail Simone. Seriously, if ever a book cried out to be read, this is the one. If I had even the slightest real interest in Firestorm, this book would probably be on our list.

BIRDS OF PREY isn't written by Gail Simone and there's no Oracle. It just didn't appeal to us. On the other hand, BATGIRLis written by Gail Simone. But again, she's not Oracle. I like Barbara Gordon when she's in control and using her mind as her greatest weapon. So we decided against both these books.

We didn't get JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK because a single character that we are interested in (Zatanna) wasn't quite enough to justify it. And besides, Paul Dini isn't writing Zatanna in it, so who knows what it would be like?

Harley Quinn and King Shark definitely made me look twice at SUICIDE SQUAD, but I don't recognize the creative team and the cover art makes me ill. So in the end we passed on this one.

One of my favorite Birds of Prey is Zinda, Lady Blackhawk. But BLACKHAWKS doesn't seem to have her in it, and the females I see on the cover look more like anime-rejects than Blackhawks to me. So we'll pass on this one as well.

The rest we didn't really look at, mostly from lack of interest in the characters. Would I like to get all 52? Sure, if I was rich, and didn't have other things to worry about. But 9 books isn't more than we were getting before, and it works out in the budget. And I'll be watching for new developments or changes in the DCU as well. Who knows what will happen a year from now?

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comments:

I keep editing my DCBS order, alternately adding and removing DC titles. I'm really not sure which I want to check out. So far I've alternated between as few as 2 and as many as, well, 6, which still isn't that many, I guess. But still.